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Oct 27 - Nov 1, 2014
Tucson, AZ
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Job Title: Appraiser
Application Deadline Date: April 6, 2014
Position Location: Fostoria, Ohio
Job Title: Farm and Ranch Manager
Application Deadline Date: March 31, 2014
Position Location: Indianapolis, IN
Job Title: Real Estate Specialist Advanced
Position Location: Waukesha, WI
Application Deadline: March 16, 2014
Get more information on these and other jobs on the ASFMRA Career Center.
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Stephen Frerichs
ASFMRA Lobbyist, Stephen owns and operates his own consulting and lobbying firm, AgVantage, LLC in Alexandria, VA.
Bill Garber
ASFMRA/AI Lobbyist, Bill is the Director of Government and External Relations at the Appraisal Institute (AI) in Washington, DC.
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Contact Us
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American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers
950 South Cherry Street, Suite 508 Denver, CO 80246
TEL: (303) 758-3513
FAX: (303) 758-0190
www.asfmra.org
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Welcome to the ASFMRA Legislative Action News. We hope you will find it a useful tool for staying up to date with legislative issues and critical information for rural property experts.
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By Dennis Reyman, AFM, ARA - The new and much-anticipated Agricultural Act of 2014, aka "the Farm Bill", was signed into law by President Obama on February 7th. This farm bill contains a considerable amount of change from previous farm bills, probably the biggest changes to the Commodity Title since the 1996 bill which introduced "Freedom to Farm", untying base acres and actual production.
Changes include less spending in the Commodity Title, Conservation, Nutrition, and an increased spending in Research, Energy, Specialty Crops, and mostly to Crop Insurance. This bill is projected to save $16.6 billion over ten years, plus an additional $6.4 billion via sequestration, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Continue reading.
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| New farm program made easy |
| Logan Hawkes - Southwest Farm Press - Hoping to avoid another federal government website embarrassment, USDA has rolled out a clean new web site that provides some excellent resources for understanding the way the new farm bill programs and options work. Continue reading on the Southwest Farm Press.
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| 2015 President's Budget Proposals |
| President Obama released his 2015 budget request to Congress earlier this month. The annual request starts the appropriations cycle in Congress. The House and Senate Appropriations Committees will now start to hold hearings on the budget request. Secretary Vilsack testified last Friday before the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee regarding the 2015 President's Budget. Continue reading about the 2015 budget.
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USDA Announces Farm Bill Listening Sessions
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a series of meetings to share information with stakeholders about the 2014 Farm Bill implementation process. A joint FSA/ RMA listening session is scheduled for March 27. You can find the listening session schedule here.
The Federal Register Notice for the joint FSA/RMA listening session can be found here. starting at the bottom of the first page. Written comments are due by April 2 if you'd like to comment about how FSA or RMA should implement specific provisions of the farm bill.
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House Introduces Bill Protecting Farmers Private Information
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| Congressman Crawford (R-AR) along with Representatives Costa (D-CA), Terry (R-NE), and McIntrye (D-NC) introduced a bill entitled the "Farmer Identity Protection Act" last week that would prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from releasing agricultural producers' private information into the public domain. The legislation comes in response to EPA's 2013 release of agricultural producers' private information to environmental groups filing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Congressman Crawford said EPA's information leak included names, addresses, phone numbers, and GPS coordinates of more than 80,000 agricultural producers in 30 states, including Arkansas.
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Rep. Roby Leaves House Ag Committee Replaced by Rep. McAllister
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| Representative Vance McAllister (R-LA) has joined the House Agriculture Committee, succeeding Representative Martha Roby (R-AL), who took a seat on the House Appropriations Committee. Congressman McAllister will serve on the General Farm Commodities and Risk Management; Conservation, Energy, and Forestry; and Department Operations, Oversight and Nutrition subcommittees.
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EPA Water Rules Regulation Imminent?
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| The EPA is set to issue new regulations clarifying which bodies of water the agency must oversee under the Clean Water Act. There is no timetable for when the regulations will be issued, according to the report in The New York Times
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FAA releases fact sheet about Unmanned Aerial System regulations
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There has been quite a lot about drones in the news recently and we will actually have a drone demo at the annual meeting in Tucson this fall (Oct 27 - Nov 1). This story from Farm Futures dispels myths about the FAA regulations regarding these systems. Read more on the Farm Futures website.
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New USDA agriculture census report shows trends
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By David Bennett - Delta Farm Press - The USDA has released a preliminary report on the 2012 Census of Agriculture. The full report will reach the public in May. The preliminary data provides "a snapshot of a strong rural America that has remained stable during difficult economic times," said Tom Vilsack, Agriculture Secretary. Continue reading on the Delta Farm Press.
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Wells Fargo lowers FHA credit scores to 600
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| By Pete Carey, San Jose Mercury News - A move by Wells Fargo Bank to lower the bar for certain government-backed mortgages is stirring hopes of homeownership among people with credit scores battered by the recession. Read more.
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Are there topics that you would like to see covered in the ASFMRA Legislative Action News? Do you have news sources that you think would be interesting to other ASFMRA Members? Please let us know.
Sincerely,
Suzanne Gruba
American Society of Farm Managers & Rural Appraisers
The Most Trusted Rural Property Professionals
sgruba@asfmra.org or reply to this email.
303-692-1210
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